1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for cleaning the abdominal cavity of fish, comprising a tool driven to revolve in a predetermined direction for removing the viscera or intestines, the viscera removal tool including a knife blade with a peripherally arranged cutting edge for opening the air bladder or kidneys and, for tearing away the viscera, being provided with lateral cleaning means in the vicinity of the cutting edge.
In such apparatuses, it is an essential requirement to remove the viscera completely and to open the air bladder, if present, and kidneys reliably and, at the same time, to leave the abdominal skin giving a certain protection against bacterial attacks undamaged. In addition, this result is to be achieved reliably for fish of different species, types and sizes, without the requirement of making significant changes to the apparatus.
2. Prior Art
Numerous attempts have been made to meet these in part diametrically opposing requirements with a single tool, but the results hitherto obtained have not been satisfactory.
Danish Pat. No. 146 972 discloses a tool which is able to satisfy reliably the first two requirements, namely the removal of the viscera and the opening of the air bladder and kidneys, but it is unable to prevent damage to the abdominal skin, particularly when processing fish which is not absolutely fish. The result which has had to be accepted up to now through the lack of better concepts and designs was that the abdominal walls were roughened and the cut surfaces of the belly opening cuts were torn to a greater or smaller extent.
The construction of this known tool corresponds to that described in the introductory paragraph.
3. Objects of the Invention
It is a main object of the invention to propose a tool for cleaning the abdominal cavity of fish, which does not suffer from the aforementioned disadvantages.
It is a particular object of the present invention to suggest a tool which enables the processing of fish of differing types and sizes reliably without necessitating major structural changes or adjustments to the tool itself during application.